Manure remover



May 26, 1964 D. w. BYRNES MANURE REMOVER Original Filed Jan. so. 1958INVENTOR DENNIS w.

BYRNES ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,134,358 MANURE REMOVER Dennis W.Byrnes, 4565 S. 6th St., Tucson, Ariz. Original application Jan. 30,1958, Ser. No. 712,118, now Patent No. 3,045,612, dated July 24, 1962.Divided and this application Sept. 27, 1961, Ser. No. 146,678 4 Claims.(Cl. 119-22) The present invention relates to animal husbandry, and moreparticularly relates to apparatus and process for the husbandry of smallanimals. More particularly this invention relates to an apparatus forremoving manure from animal cages. This application is a division ofcopending application Serial Number 712,118, filed January 30, 1958, andnow United States Patent 3,045,612 dated July 24, 1962.

The growing and processing of small animals is a tremendous industry. Inthe United States, consumption of whole chickens including fryers andbroilers requires that huge facilities be devoted to the breeding andraising of chickens to meet the demand of the market for the wholebirds. In addition, the fresh egg industry has reached giganticproportions. It can be estimated that there are over 300 million layinghens in the United States at the present time. The market demand forwhole turkeys has grown tremendously and has great peaks forThanksgiving and Christmas. Thus the significance of the small animalindustry, and of improvements leading to greater efliciency in thatindustry, is readily apparent.

The present invention resides in the concept of an animal husbandrysystem comprising means for conveying a plurality of animal cageassemblies in an endless path and including means for removing depositedmanure from the cage assemblies.

An object of the invention is to provide an animal cage assembly forrotatable suspension from a conveyor and including a plurality ofvertically-spaced groups of cages with foraminous bottoms extendingoutwardly from a central vertical support and manure trays beneath andspaced from each cage group constructed so that stationary scrapers mayremove the manure from the manure trays as the cage assemblies are movedpast the scrapers.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent uponreference to the following specification and drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical sectional View illustrating a stacked poultrycage assembly and including stationary manure scrapers disposed betweenthe spaced cages forming the assembly.

FIGURE 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the lines 22 inFIGURE 1.

The animal husbandry apparatus and system illustrated in the drawing isadapted for laying hens such as chicken hens. The apparatus includes aplurality of horizontallyspaced cage assemblies 12 each rotatablysuspended from and driven by an endless conveyor. A manure removalstation 22 is located adjacent the endless path of movement of the cageassemblies.

To form a support for the groups of cages, a pair of vertical centralsupport members 46 extend downwardly from the middle of bars 42. As seenin FIGURE 1, a cage bottom 48 is secured to the lower ends of centralsupport bars 46. A plurality of vertically spaced cage groups 50 aresecured to bars 46 and extend outwardly therefrom with spaces 52 betweenvertically-spaced cage groups 50. Each cage group 50 can include aplurality of horizontally-adjacent cages. The cages are formed of wiremesh sides, ends, and bottoms. The mesh of the bottoms 54 is chosen ofthe proper fineness so that the manure droppings of the hens passesthrough the mesh.

In order to collect the manure dropped through the bottom 54 of eachcage group 50, a manure tray 68 is positioned beneath and spaced fromeach cage group 50. Each manure tray 68 includes a flat bottom 70,upstanding edges 72 at both sides of the tray, and open ends 74. Twomanure trays 68 rest in cage assembly bottom 48. Manure trays aremounted on top of cage groups 50 and form the tops thereof, except forthe uppermost cage groups 5t which have sheet metal tops. The centralsupport bars 46 are cut away adjacent the manure trays at 76 to permitcomplete removal of manure from the trays.

The manure removal station 22 includes a pair of vertical posts 214rigidly mounted on floor 184 and extending upwardly therefrom. Manurescrapers generally indicated by the numeral 216 have mounting plates 218secured by bolts 220 to the posts 214. Manure scrapers 216 have armportions 222 extending diagonally forwardly or upstream in the directionof the oncoming cage assemblies 12. Attached to the arm portions 222 aremanure scraper blades 224 having their heights inclined to the verticalso that the lower edges 226 of the blades located forwardly or upstreamfrom the upper edges 228 with respect to the path of movement of thecage assemblies 12. The lower edges 226 of the manure scraper blades arepositioned to closely engage and scrape the bottoms 70 of the manuretrays 68.

To receive and carry away the manure scraped from the many manure trays,a horizontal conveyor 230 is mounted in an aperture 232 in floor 184 anddriven by drive wheels 234 driven by conventional power drive means (notshown).

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The presentembodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects illustrativeand not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by theappended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and allchanges Which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by United States LettersPatent is:

1. In an animal husbandry device in which a plurality of verticallyspaced cages for housing animals attached to and extending from acentral vertical support in a side-byside relationship, said centralvertical support having adjacent vertically spaced indentations onopposite sides thereof, and said cages are carried on an endlessconveyor, each of said cages having a wire screen bottom permittinganimal manure to fall therethrough, and a flat bottom manure pansupported under and spaced from the screen bottom of each cage into oneof said indentations and thereby extending beyond the inner edge of thebottom of the cage thereabove, a manure removing apparatus comprising: aplurality of vertically spaced and horizontally extending manure scraperblades angularly disposed in the path of said vertically spaced cages,each scraper blade adapted to be received in the manure pan of eachcage, said scraper blades closely engaging the bottoms of said manurepans and into said indentations to scrape the manure from said cages assaid cages move relative to the scraper blades whereby the manure issimultaneously and completely removed from all of said vertically spacedcages; and conveyor means below said cages for receiving and removingsaid manure scraped from said manure pans.

2. Apparatus for animal husbandry comprising: a movable animal cageassembly including a central vertical support having vertically spacedindentations in the opposite sides thereof, and a plurality ofvertically spaced cages secured to opposite sides of said centralvertical support, said cages being arranged in a side-by-siderelationship and extending perpendicularly from said central verticalsupport; a flat manure tray attached to the top of each cage andextending completely under the bottom of the cage thereabove and into anindentation in said central vertical support; vertical stationary postsdisposed on either side of said cage assembly; vertically spacedscrapers attached to sm'd posts and extending horizontally therefrombetween said vertically spaced cages and into said indentations in saidcentral vertical support whereby manure in each of said manure trays isremoved by said scrapers when said cage assembly is moved relative toand between said stationary posts.

3. Apparatus for animal husbandry as set forth in claim 2 wherein eachsaid scraper has its length extending in a direction inclined to aperpendicular to the path of movement with its inner end positioned at apoint displaced forwardly or upstream from said post with respect to thepath of movement of said cage assemblies; and each said scraper has itsheight inclined to a vertical plane with its lower edge locatedforwardly or upstream from its upper edge with respect to the path ofmovement of said cage assemblies.

4. Apparatus for animal husbandry as set forth in claim 2 including aconveyor having a portion thereof located beneath said scrapers andextending to a point spaced from said path of movement of said cages;Whereby manure scraped from said manure trays will fall upon saidconveyor and be conveyed from said path of movement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,257,734 Cornell Oct. 7, 1941 2,314,344 Cornell Mar. 23, 1943 2,383,326Lovell Aug. 21, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS 643,416 Great Britain Sept. 20,1950

1. IN AN ANIMAL HUSBANDRY DEVICE IN WHICH A PLURALITY OF VERTICALLYSPACED CAGES FOR HOUSING ANIMALS ATTACHED TO AND EXTENDING FROM ACENTRAL VERTICAL SUPPORT IN A SIDE-BYSIDE RELATIONSHIP, SAID CENTRALVERTICAL SUPPORT HAVING ADJACENT VERTICALLY SPACED INDENTATIONS ONOPPOSITE SIDES THEREOF, AND SAID CAGES ARE CARRIED ON AN ENDLESSCONVEYOR, EACH OF SAID CAGES HAVING A WIRE SCREEN BOTTOM PERMITTINGANIMAL MANURE TO FALL THERETHROUGH, AND A FLAT BOTTOM MANURE PANSUPPORTED UNDER AND SPACED FROM THE SCREEN BOTTOM OF EACH CAGE INTO ONEOF SAID INDENTATIONS AND THEREBY EXTENDING BEYOND THE INNER EDGE OF THEBOTTOM OF THE CAGE THEREABOVE, A MANURE REMOVING APPARATUS COMPRISING: APLURALITY OF VERTICALLY SPACED AND HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING MANURE SCRAPERBLADES ANGULARLY DISPOSED IN THE PATH OF SAID VERTICALLY SPACED CAGES,EACH SCRAPER BLADE ADAPTED TO BE RECEIVED IN THE MANURE PAN OF EACHCAGE, SAID SCRAPER BLADES CLOSELY ENGAGING THE BOTTOMS OF SAID MANUREPANS AND INTO SAID INDENTATIONS TO SCRAPE THE MANURE FROM SAID CAGES ASSAID CAGES MOVE RELATIVE TO THE SCRAPER BLADES WHEREBY THE MANURE ISSIMULTANEOUSLY AND COMPLETELY REMOVED FROM ALL OF SAID VERTICALLY SPACEDCAGES; AND CONVEYOR MEANS BELOW SAID CAGES FOR RECEIVING AND REMOVINGSAID MANURE SCRAPED FROM SAID MANURE PANS.